Fencing, vehicle damaged after cargo plane rolls unsecured at Ted Stevens Airport

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - A Korean Air cargo plane became unsecured and rolled unguided down a Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport lot Monday morning, impacting and damaging a parked truck and fence, according to officials.

Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport Police and Fire Chief Aaron Danielson said that the Boeing 747 cargo plane was being moved by ground handlers from Pegasus Aviation Services just before 9:30 a.m. when it became unhooked and began rolling away on its own.

“It ended up impacting another company’s vehicle in the airport fence line,” Danielson said. “There (were) no injuries. There’s some damage to the fence line to secure, and the airport’s not endangered in any way. We’re working on the repair for that, and also doing the investigation about what occurred.”

Danielson said the plane came into contact with a FedEx truck that was parked nearby at the FedEx Maintenance Hangar — along the fence line on Postmark Drive — pushing the vehicle into the fencing and damaging both. Danielson couldn’t provide information on the extent of damage to the plane, but said FedEx was not involved in the handling of the Korean Air jet.

Pegasus was moving the plane with a tug vehicle, Danielson said, when the operators unhooked from the plane. At that time, it began rolling toward the FedEx hangar where the vehicle was parked near the fence.

“An aircraft rolling away is not common,” he said. “There’s a variety of things that people do to secure those aircraft, a few different mechanisms and layers of protection there.”

Danielson didn’t provide information on where the Boeing 747 had recently come from or was scheduled to depart to, but according to Flight Aware, the plane landed in Anchorage on Saturday afternoon from Seoul, South Korea, and was scheduled to depart Tuesday morning at midnight en route to Chicago.

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